Dhanaraj Thakur is Research Director at the Center for Democracy & Technology, where he leads research that advances human rights and civil liberties online. Over the last 15 years, he has designed and led research projects that have significantly informed tech policy solutions and helped improve the way public policy problems are framed.
He has been interviewed by and his work cited in several news media, including the New York Times, WIRED, CNN, the WSJ, the Economist, the Guardian (UK), and the Financial Times, among others. In addition, he has published in numerous peer reviewed journals and presented at conferences across multiple disciplines. This includes research for civil society organizations, multilateral development banks, and governments.
He is currently an advisory board member of the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition, #ShePersisted, and a member of the Global Majority Research Committee (of the Trust and Safety Foundation). A former Fulbright scholar, Inter-American Development Bank scholar, and ISOC Ambassador, Dhanaraj previously led research at the World Wide Web Foundation, focusing on broadband access and affordability, gender equality online, and data rights.
Prior to that he held political science faculty positions at Tennessee State University and the University of the West Indies (Mona, Jamaica). He holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), and is a graduate of the London School of Economics, the University of the West Indies, and the University of Technology in Jamaica.